NIA traces links of 9 Qaeda men via social media

Bunker, tunnel discovered under suspect’s house in Murshidabad

SCANNING THE MOBILE phones of the nine accused, the NIA found that they were members of a WhatsApp group called “GhazwatulHind,” which had around 22 members

A day after arresting the nine Al- Qaeda members from West Bengal and Kerala for their alleged nationwide terror plot, the National Investigation Agency has zeroed in on their connection with an Indian affiliate of the global terror outfit after tracing their contacts and communication links through social networking platforms.

Scanning the mobile phones of the nine accused, the NIA found that they were members of a WhatsApp group called “Ghazwat- ulHind”, which had around 22 members altogether, official sources told this newspaper. Surprisingly, all the conversations were deleted before September 19, the sources added.

The WhatsApp group name of the accused looks similar to Ansar Ghazwat- ul- Hind, an Indian affiliate of terror group Al- Qaeda, which was found by Central intelligence agencies active in Jammu and Kashmir in the past twothree years, a senior NIA officer said, adding that there may be a link between the two.

The Central agency also blew the lid off another Internet communication channel of the terror outfit on the Dark Web, which were used by two of the accused, Murshid Hasan and Mosharaf Hossen, to maintain contacts with their handlers in Pakistan, the sources added.

Meanwhile, the NIA has unearthed a long tunnel during a search at the residence of Abu Sufiyan, one of the accused, in Murshidabad in West Bengal. The concrete tunnel was found at the backyard of his home at Kalinagar village in Rainagar, in the district from where he was caught early Saturday during a raid.

The NIA suspects the tunnel was built to stockpile arms, ammunition

■ Continued from Page 1 and explosives. It has also learnt that the 44- year- old tailor, who also used to work as a lathe machine operator for extra income, planned to escape after anticipating his arrest. He had called up some of his aides for help in the days leading to September 19, the sources said. The NIA, which is interrogating the six arrested from the state at its office in Salt Lake, is now trying to trace the calls from his cellphone which was seized. In a startling revelation, another accused, Najmus Sakib, spoke about his contacts with some people in Jammu and Kashmir to the investigators, sources claimed, adding that why and how he developed contacts in the Valley is still under probe. The 20- year- old is a second- year student of computer science at Basantapur Engineering College in Domkol. The NIA is planning to take the nine accused, in its custody on a transit remand till September 24, to New Delhi for their further interrogation.